Toelet



Jan. 6, 1959 R. w. RUSSELL 2,866,979

TOELET Filed April 22. 1957 INVENTOR. Hap/x 1'14 @4554;

ATT%NEY5L E United States. Patent TOELET Ralph W. Russell, Siler City, N. C., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Pohatcong Hosiery Mills, Inc., Pawtucket, R. I., a corporation of New Jersey Application April 22, 1957, Serial No. 654,246

4 Claims. (Cl. 2-61) This invention relates to coverings designed to be worn over the toes of a wearer to protect the toes of the wearer under a sandal, an open-toed shoe, or backless shoe, as when stockings are not worn.

Toe mittens and like constructions which are formed of stretchable material throughout tend to be lacking in strength and durability and in smoothness and snugness of fit at the sole portion. Toelets formed throughout of relatively unstretchable material need to be constructed in numerous varying sizes for different-sized feet and do not adapt themselves readily to the contour of the toes of the wearer; moreover, they tend to slip loose forwardly. Band-like coverings which extend over the ball of a foot, but which do not extend over the front of the toes, not only fail to provide effective protection for the toes, but tend to work rearwardly or into diagonal positions.

With the foregoing and other considerations in view, the present invention contemplates the provision of a toelet having a bottom section of relative non-stretchable material and a top section of stretchable material, the top section being, at least when unstretched,'of smaller extent than that portion of the bottom section contiguous thereto, so that, in use, the bottom section will extend upwardly over at least the lower areas at the front and sides of the toes. In this manner, there is provided a strong, durable covering which has a snug, smooth, nonstretch fit under the toes and along at least the lower portions of the front and sides thereof, and which at the same time is adapted to fit firmly over the toes of wearers having a variety of toe sizes without substantial tendency to shift its position while being worn.

In various of its more specific aspects, the invention contemplates the extension of the lower section rearwardly so that it will fit under the ball of the wearers foot, the'formation of the lower section of closely knitted inelastic yarn, the formation of the top section of knitted elastic yarn, the uniting of the edges of the sections to provide anon-stretchable edging, the extension of this edging to provide a selvage edging at the free edge of the bottom section, and the provision of elastic means along the free edge of the top section.

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessing the features, properties, and the relation of elements which will be exemplified in the article hereinafter described and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a toelet embodying the invention;

Patented Jan. 6, 1959 portion 6, a portion 7 adapted to extend upwardly to a greater or less extent, depending on the size of the wearers foot, in front and at the sides of the wearers toes, and, in the present instance, a portion 8 adapted to extend under the ball of the wearers foot. A top section 10 is formed of elastic yarn, such, for instance, as the twisted yarn known as stretch yarn or lively yarn knitted into a stretchable fabric. The section 10 when unstretched is defined by a slightly forwardly curving free edge 11, and a widely forwardly curving edge 12 which is united to a corresponding edge 12' of the section 5 by, in the present instance, stitching 13 to provide non-stretchable edging 14, which, as exemplified, continues around the free edge 15 of the section 5.

Along the free edge of the section 10 there extends edge stitching 16 which contains an elastic yarn 17 so that the edge 11 has at least as great a stretchability as the body of the section 10, and, as exemplified, a greater strength and elastic pull.

Since certain changes may be made in the above article and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

l. A toelet comprising .a relatively inelastic bottom portion knitted from relatively inelastic yarn and adapted to extend under the sole portion of the wearers foot, a relatively elastic top portion knitted from twisted stretch yarn and united to the forward part of said bottom portion along a curving front and side edge line, said bottom portion extending rearwardly of said top portion, an elastic edging at the free rear edge of said top portion and having an elastic pull greater than that of said stretch yarn, and a relatively inelastic edging at the free rear edge of the bottom portion.

2. A toelet as in claim 1 wherein the top and bottom portions are united by similarly inelastic means which constitutes a continuation of said inelastic edging.

3. A toelet comprising a top portion of relatively great stretchability adapted to extend over the wearers toes and composed of knitted twisted stretch yarn, a bottom portion of relatively less stretchability and adapted to extend under the wearers toes and composed of knitted yarn having less stretchability, and means to unite the front and side edges of the top portion with contiguous edges of the bottom portion, said top portion when unstretched being of less overall extent than the part of the bottom portion below the same, the front and side edges of the top portion being defined by a wide forwardly-extending curve and the rear edge of the top portion being defined by a relatively slight-forwardlyextending curve, and the bottom portion extending rearwardly of the top portion and being there provided with a free rear edge of substantially similar extent to that of said rear edge of the top portion.

4. A toelet comprising a top portion of relatively great stretchability adapted to extend over the wearers toes and composed of knitted twisted stretch yarn, a bottom portion of relatively less rstretchability and adapted to extend under the wearers toes and composed of knitted yarn having less stretchability, and means to unite the front and side edges of the top portion with contiguous edges of the bottom portion, said top portion when unstretched being of less overall extent than the part of the bottom portion below the same, wherein an edging having an elastic pull greater than that of said knitted twist yarn extends along the free rear edge of the top portion from edge to edge of the bottom portion, and wherein the periphery of the bottom portion is defined by edging which is of less stretchzibility than the stretchability of the front portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,889,716 Walker Nov. 29, 1932 2,266,317 Hazen Dec. 16, 1941 2,412,087 Herbert D66. 3, 1946 2,613,520 Schaefer Oct. 14, 1952 10 2,649,588 K6611 Aug. 25, 1953 

